Religious and Scientific Truth are one that God hath joined, but one that Theologians have sought to put asunder; for contempt of human Science, however masked, has always been a fundamental feature of Theology. That spirit of investigation and doubt, that confidence which Science teaches man to place in the conclusions of his own reason, when brought into relation with the phenomena of the external world, 1 are fatal to every theological system that the world has yet seen; for there is not one that cannot be shown to have been originally founded on ignorance of the Laws of Nature, not one that does not require its disciples to swallow several physical absurdities; belief in which a fearless application of scientific methods of enquiry would succeed in exploding, by subjecting theological dogmas to the test of reason, in other words, compelling theologians to employ in their search after Truth the only means man can be proved to possess for its discovery.2 Dogmatic theology, though in fact consisting of the thoughts and opinions of fallible men, is, in a Protestant country, professed to be exclusively based. been union, which in earlier times deluged Europe with blood, and which even to this day employs in petty strife with each other those energies which the ministers of Christ should direct in common accord to the instruction of ignorance and the repression of vice.'— True and False Protestantism, by W. G. Clark, M.A, Vice-Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, p. 30.

1 See Appendix, Note E.

2 Condorcet-Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind, pp. 128, 246. 'All errors in politics and in morals are founded upon philosophical mistakes, which, themselves, are connected with physical errors. There does not exist any religious system, or supernatural extravagance, which is not founded on an ignorance of the laws of Nature.'-Ibid. p. 298.

upon an infallible book, the Bible," which, we should ever bear in mind, is not a single book, but a collection of books, bound up indeed together, but written by different authors at different times, extending over a period exceeding 1,000 years-the whole being so composed, to whatever extent inspired, as to constitute a body of literature so difficult to comprehend, that the endeavours of the human mind to ascertain its meanings have given rise probably to a greater variety and conflict of opinions than have resulted from any similar known collection in the world. But, it cannot be

All the creeds and dogmatic systems of Protestant theology rest upon the assumption of the absolute infallibility of the whole. Bible. If this assumption be disproved, all the dogmas which have been built upon it must fall together. And it has been disproved by science and criticism, and must ere long be rejected by the common sense and common conscience of mankind. Habit and prejudice have a strong power of resistance, but the ultimate triumph of reason is certain.'-Clark's True and False Protestantism, p. 26. 2 See Appendix, Note F.

3 There are eight book religions of the world-viz. Brahmanism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, the Religion of Confucius, the Religion of Lao-tse, Mosaism, Christianity, and Mahommedanism. With these eight religions the library of the sacred books of the whole human race is complete. .. Look at the enormous literature devoted to the interpretation of the Old Testament, and the number of books published every year on controversial points in the doctrine or history of the Gospels, and you may then form an idea of what a theological library would be that should contain the necessary materials for a scholarlike interpretation of these eight sacred codes. In reference to Brahmanism alone the Vedas constitute the text only for numberless treatises, essays, manuals, glosses, &c., forming an uninterrupted chain of theological literature, extending over more than three thousand years, and receiving new links even at the present time. There are, besides, the inevitable parasites of theological literature, the controversial writings of different schools of thought and faith, all claiming to be orthodox, yet differing from

surprising that educated persons, with minds saturated, from earliest infancy, with creeds, catechisms, liturgies, and sermons, inheriting probably the mental habitudes of ancestors, whose minds for many generations have been similarly saturated, find it a task of no ordinary difficulty to read the Bible, otherwise than through the spectacles of their theology. The great biblical critic each other like day and night; and lastly, the compositions of writers, professedly at variance with the opinions of the majority, declared enemies of the Brahmanic faith and priesthood, whose accusations and insinuations, whose sledge- hammers of argument, and whose poisoned arrows of invective, need fear no comparison with the weapons of theological warfare in any other country.'--Max Müller's Introduction to the Science of Religion, pp. 106, 108, 109.

1 6

Many men firmly embrace falsehood for truth; not only because they never thought otherwise, but also because, thus blinded as they have been from the beginning, they never could think otherwise; at least without a vigour of mind able to contest the empire of habit, and look into its own principles; a freedom which few men have the notion of; it being the great art and business of the teachers and guides in most sects, to suppress as much as they can this fundamental duty which every man owes himself.'-Locke's Conduct of the Understanding, sec. 41. The extent to which mental habitudes are the result of inheritance through the intellectual culture of ages, has not yet been sufficiently considered. The doctrine was first explicitly and ably put forth by the late George Combe in his 'Constitution of Man,' &c., since then by Mr. Herbert Spencer—and it has recently been more thoroughly pursued by Dr. Carpenter in his able articles in the 'Contemporary Review,' March, April, &c., 1873. I venture to think however that the most powerful grasp of the entire subject has been taken by Mr. Francis Galton in his 'Hereditary Genius' and in his article also in the Contemporary Review '-' How Scientific Men are Made.' He observes with great scientific probability, that a man's abilities are derived by inheritance, under exactly the same limitations as are the form and physical features of the whole organic world. Consequently, as it is easy, notwithstanding these limitations, to obtain by careful selection a perma

of our age has told us, in all the frankness of his honest nature, that it was as a missionary to the heathen, when compelled to expound the very text itself to the simpleminded savage, that he, bishop Colenso, for the first time found himself mentally face to face with those improbabilities, inconsistencies, and contradictions to Science, that encrust the pages of the Pentateuch ; imperfections which the brave bishop has since, by the conscientious application of his consummate mathematical talents, placed so clearly before the clearly before the eyes of his countrymen, that now, 'all who run may read' them.1

nent breed of dogs or horses gifted with peculiar powers, &c., so it would be quite practicable to produce a highly-gifted race of men by judicious marriages during several consecutive generations.' In reference to the position in the text, he shows as an inductive generalisation from statistical facts that a pious disposition is decidedly hereditary.'-Hereditary Genius, by Francis Galton, pp. 1, 274. See also to the like effect Darwin's Descent of Man, vol. ii. p. 403.

1 The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua critically examined, by the Right Rev. John William Colenso, D.D., Bishop of Natal. In this (People's) edition of my work on the Pentateuch I have desired to place, in a clear and intelligible form, before the eyes of the general reader, the main arguments which have been advanced in my first four Parts, as proving the unhistorical character, the later origin, and the compound authorship, of the five books usually attributed to Moses. Hitherto I have addressed myself to the Clergy and to the more highly-educated among the Laity; and the difficulties connected with the strict scientific treatment of the subject, have confined, of course, the study of my work to a comparatively limited, though still in itself extensive, circle. But now I address the general public. I should feel indeed, that unless I had first stated at length, for the consideration and examination of the learned, the grounds on which my conclusions are based, I should not be justified in bringing the discussion of these questions in this form within the reach of the People at large. But a long interval has now elapsed, since my First Part was published; and I have sufficiently tested the validity

In proceeding to bring our abstract ideas of the pursuit of Truth to bear upon the concerns of actual life, we shall find that they conveniently range themselves under three distinct heads: first, in relation to those human systems of religious thought which constitute Theology proper; secondly, in relation to that connected knowledge which has arisen from the intercourse of mind with Nature (commercium mentis et rerum) termed Physical Science; and thirdly, in relation to Law, in its limited meaning of those human rules for regulating the affairs of life which are administered by Judicial tribunals; and it will be found on examination that Principles of Evidence appear to differ widely in their nature, according as they are regarded from the point of view of each of these distinct systems of knowledge. Thus, the principle of theological proof will be seen to resolve itself into an

of my arguments by the character of the answers which have been given to them.'—Advertisement to the People's Edition.

'The isolated objections to the historical veracity of the Pentateuch have been marshalled for the first time (by Bishop Colenso) in such array, as that their immense force becomes revealed at a glance, and for the first time the nation at large has been admitted to behold the sight.'-Broken Lights, by F. P. Cobbe, Appendix 1.

'We have simply treated the history as containing, or professing to contain, an authentic narrative of matters of fact. We have taken it and placed it, as we have been so earnestly urged to do (Quart. Review, Oct. 1861, p. 369) "in the crucible and under the microscope of strict Inductive Logic," and we have found it full of unsuspected flaws, of "difficulties, contradictions, improbabilities, and impossibilities." But we have also seen that these phenomena have arisen in a great measure from the fact, that the Pentateuch is not, as the traditionary view assumes, the work of one single writer, Moses,—— but a composite work, the product of several different authors, who lived in different ages.'-Colenso, On the Pentateuch, Part iv. ch. ix.